INGLEWOOD, Calif. (June 29, 2008) - New Zealand-bred mare Black Mamba, given a perfect trip by jockey Garrett Gomez, rallied to post a 1¼-length victory over Solva in Sunday's $150,000 Beverly Hills Handicap at Hollywood Park.
The 5-year-old covered 1¼ miles on the Lakeside Turf Course under 117 pounds in 2:01.25 to snap a seven-race win drought while giving trainer John Sadler his fourth stakes victory in two days. Sadler, the leading trainer with 24 wins through 50 days of the 60-day Spring/Summer Meet, saddled three stakes winners on Saturday's card.
Black Mamba had five seconds and a pair of third-place finishes - all in graded stakes races - since winning her North America debut in an allowance race last August at Del Mar. She had traffic problems while only losing by a nose in the Santa Barbara Handicap in her previous start.
"We wanted to have a good clean trip," Sadler said. "She had a lot of trouble in the last one, so we were more concerned that she got a smooth trip today. I told Garrett that she's very steady and not hard to ride. She's the kind of horse Garrett likes to ride because she drops the bit, you cover her up, and she's not a hard puller which is key for a long distance race. "
Once in the clear, Black Mamba was in a class of her own Sunday.
"It's just a pleasure to come and ride anything for John," Gomez said. "They were going fairly slow up front. My main objective was to shuffle myself out between two of the more live horses that I thought I should be following. I wanted to make sure I didn't get caught down on the inside and I was able to do so. When I needed her, she was there for me. She kicked in and you know she really stays on well. She's got good acceleration for a little ways and then she just kind of levels off and stays. She's just solid. John told me exactly what she's like and he wasn't wrong."
Black Mamba, owned by Double Down Stables, was the 7-5 favorite in the field of ten fillies and mares. She returned $4.80, $2.80 and $2.40. Solva, a 12-1 outsider ridden by Aaron Gryder, paid $9.60 and $7.20, while 10-1 shot Green Lyons paid $7 to show with Joel Rosario up. Second choice Gotta Have Her tired in the stretch and finished tenth in the Grade II event.
"She ran super," Gryder said of the runner-up. "I had a good trip. She was down inside and she's kind of a steady filly, but she always gives you what she's got. I would have liked to have gotten her out a little sooner just to build on her stride. She just couldn't hold off the late charge of the other one."
Black Mamba, who has not been worse than third in North America, won for the third time in 19 starts. She has finished in the money in 11 starts. The winner's check of $90,000 boosted her earnings to $359,171.
In the $75,000 Captain Squire Handicap, favorite Leonides prevailed over White Spar in a stretch duel to win by a neck under Richard Migliore. He then survived a stewards' inquiry involving the stretch run.
"Even if they took him down you can't take away from his performance, it was pretty gutsy in between horses against a three-horse entry and he prevailed," winning trainer Vladimir Cerin said.
White Spar, third-place finisher Sea of Pleasure and sixth-place finisher Ten Meropa were all from the Jeff Mullins barn as he saddled half of the starters in the race named for his former horse.
"I told the stewards that I just thought a narrow gap presented itself and I got my horse's head in there," Migliore said. "Aaron (Gryder) was doing a good job trying to keep the hole closed. I thought it was good, hard race riding on both our parts. I thought Aaron rode a great race and I thought I rode a great race, but I think the best horse won. Once he got his head in front, he was never going to relinquish the lead."
Gryder viewed things differently.
"It doesn't matter how much horse you have," he said. "If you don't have room you can't just move somebody out of their position. If you're stuck with more horse, you're stuck with more horse...so go to the inside. He laid on me for three strides and I got beat a head (neck)."
